The White House is sparing no punches to some of its critics on the "professional left," describing them as insatiable and unrealistic.
In an interview with Sam Youngman of The Hill published Tuesday morning, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs unleashed a series of forceful attacks on some unnamed progressive critics of President Barack Obama.
"I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested," Gibbs said. "I mean, it’s crazy."
The paper described the president's spokesman as "simmering with anger" and "visibly frustrated" with some of Obama's liberal detractors, from whom he has faced regular criticism for not pushing a progressive agenda more authoritatively.
“They will be satisfied when we have Canadian health care and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon," Gibbs retored. "That’s not reality.”
One topic of liberal dissent was the administration's handling of health care reform, which the Democratic base was underwhelmed by. Gibbs mocked and dismissed them.
“They wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president," he said.
The tone of Gibbs’ interview signals brewing frustration in the White House over parts of its base as midterm elections approach. It might hearken back to when White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel privately and pointedly described some liberals as "fucking retarded."
"I understand why the [White House] is frustrated by liberal dissatisfaction, but not why they complain about it in interviews," said Ezra Klein of the Washington Post in response.
"Maybe one day Robert Gibbs can gear himself up to express some anger at the Right, too," tweeted Salon's Glenn Greenwald, one of the president's most consistent critics from the left.